Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals' • Hacker News Board

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#41

Post by mrob » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

bilekas wrote: post #29

ifwinterco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teflon pans are still legal in every country in the world and used in every restaurant and food preparation industry. It's basically impossible to avoid this stuff unless you cook all of your meals from scratch and never eat out anywhere

PFOA was used previously, but now it's changed to PTFE, this is supposedly less harmful, but its considered perfectly fine (afaik) as long as the temperatures dont exceed 260°C.. Which at that stage you're probably using the wrong tool.. Maybe some Iron cast skillet or something ?

PFOA is a surfactant that was previously used for emulsion polymerization of PTFE. It's not found in the finished product. It's since been replaced with other less well studied PFAS surfactants that might be less dangerous or might not, which seems to me an example of bad regulation. It would make more sense to regulate disposal of PFOA, which can be done safely with processes such as supercritical water oxidation.

PTFE itself is about as inert as you can get, assuming it's not overheated. If you use PTFE cookwear, I recommend getting an IR thermometer so you can learn how your cooking setup responds and control the temperature properly.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#42

Post by OutOfHere » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

Consuming fiber daily, e.g. psyllium husk, is another way to lower some types of PFAS from the body, although not all types of PFAS are going to mix into bile to facilitate this excretion. The way this works is that some PFAS dissolves in bile which binds to psyllium which is excreted.

Remember, 5g psyllium should be taken with 20 fl oz water, mixed and consumed immediately before it gels. Do not take it two hours before or after any medicine, and do not take it if having swallowing difficulty.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#43

Post by jl6 » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:38 PM UTC

ricardo81 wrote: post #23

throwup238 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Settlements used to be covered in smog due to coal fires for example. London first tried to ban burning coal within the city in 1306 due to the air quality.

That long ago. Surely that helped identify it as a problem even though the science behind it would have been lacking.

I strongly suspect that most of the things we now know to be problematic were also known to be problematic to the ancients, but were thought still to be worth it for their rewards. That’s pretty much where we still are today. Nobody likes breathing pollution, everybody likes modernity.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#44

Post by SkyBelow » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

medi8r wrote: post #11

amelius wrote: post #7

There's this theory that you can dilute the chemicals by doing frequent blood donations.

Is the leech back?

Did it ever leave? I thought it was still preferred in certain medical procedures. I think something about after reattaching parts of the body it was one of the best options to ensure blood flow in the area, but it has been years since I last read about it.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#45

Post by ricardo81 » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:41 PM UTC

jl6 wrote: post #43

ricardo81 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That long ago. Surely that helped identify it as a problem even though the science behind it would have been lacking.

I strongly suspect that most of the things we now know to be problematic were also known to be problematic to the ancients, but were thought still to be worth it for their rewards. That’s pretty much where we still are today. Nobody likes breathing pollution, everybody likes modernity.

Yes, some things would have just stood to reason in a general respect, even if there wasn't hard science to back it up.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#46

Post by mrob » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:42 PM UTC

dust42 wrote: post #36

ifwinterco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teflon pans are still legal in every country in the world and used in every restaurant and food preparation industry. It's basically impossible to avoid this stuff unless you cook all of your meals from scratch and never eat out anywhere

Whenever you see a Youtube video from a restaurant kitchen you can almost be sure to see some pans where the teflon has been scrubbed down to the pure metal. Probably not that healthy...

PTFE is extremely chemically inert. There's possibly some risk from ultra-fine particulates that could be absorbed by the body, but compared to all the other sources of particulate exposure I don't think it's a major problem. I'm more concerned by thermal decomposition, which forms all kinds of mystery chemicals of unknown risk profile. Restaurants love to sear food and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them do it on PTFE cookwear.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#47

Post by zendist » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

OutOfHere wrote: post #42

Consuming fiber daily, e.g. psyllium husk, is another way to lower some types of PFAS from the body, although not all types of PFAS are going to mix into bile to facilitate this excretion. The way this works is that some PFAS dissolves in bile which binds to psyllium which is excreted. Remember, 5g psyllium should be taken with 20 fl oz water, mixed and consumed immediately before it gels. Do not take it two hours be…

Source?

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#48

Post by Bender » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #7

There's this theory that you can dilute the chemicals by doing frequent blood donations.

Does the recipient get the forever chemicals or is there filtration processing that removes them?

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#49

Post by mikeyouse » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

jazz9k wrote: post #18

kstenerud wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still are. Measles was on the road to being eradicated until 10 years ago.

The part you are leaving out is that illegals (now in the millions), living in the US are almost never vaccinated for measles.

Yet the measles outbreak in Northern Mexico was caused by antivax white mennonites who brought it from Texas. Turns out there are subpopulations everywhere who need to be vaccinated - if only we had evidence-based people in charge of public health instead of wellness grifters.

Re: Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'

#50

Post by stuff4ben » Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

dust42 wrote: post #36

ifwinterco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teflon pans are still legal in every country in the world and used in every restaurant and food preparation industry. It's basically impossible to avoid this stuff unless you cook all of your meals from scratch and never eat out anywhere

Whenever you see a Youtube video from a restaurant kitchen you can almost be sure to see some pans where the teflon has been scrubbed down to the pure metal. Probably not that healthy...

its highly unlikely any restaurant uses teflon coated pans. Most use carbon steel or stainless. Teflon just won't hold up in daily use at a restaurant.